Truth Tea
by alayneni
Summary: Iris West considers herself a responsible and ethical journalist hence when she realises her boyfriend's good friend is fraternising a bit too closely with someone from her profession that is known for her underhanded methods she intervenes.


**Truth Tea**

 **An:** I do not own Arrow or Flash.

 **Summary:** Iris West considers herself a responsible and ethical journalist hence when she realises her boyfriend's good friend is fraternising a bit too closely with someone from her profession that is known for her underhanded methods she intervenes.

* * *

Iris West thought herself a strong independent woman and she was quite proud of her journalistic career. She had worked hard to earn her place at her newspaper. Besides her work on reporting about the Flash, she had several other major stories that she had broken. To do that she developed her own network of contacts within Central City to verify facts for her articles. Her contacts trusted her and when they told her things off the record or confided information in her it stayed out of the paper. She protected her contacts and she made sure the work she published was accurate and meaningful. She never published anything to tear people apart.

Half of Team Arrow was in town to investigate the breakout of Black Siren and if their villain, Prometheus, left any clues behind. Iris thought it was quite disturbing that Prometheus had broken into Star Labs and released Black Siren without Team Flash even realising what had happened. It was even worse that Black Siren had been gone for a whole month.

Naturally, Team Arrow, namely Oliver, felt betrayed that the Earth-2 doppelganger was there and they were never informed. That led to a serious talk between Barry and Oliver about why she was being held prisoner. The talk, turned into an explosive argument that resulted in Felicity ordering Oliver to take a time out in her loud voice. Iris was seriously impressed when Oliver back down and sulked away to another room. However, she didn't like the way that Felicity dismissed Barry when he tried to explain his case to her. The blonde had just held up a finger to silence him and then walked out of the room in search of Oliver.

Of course, a metahuman started causing a ruckus downtown and the Green Arrow and the Flash were both called to duty. Iris was amazed at Oliver's amazing ability to compartmentalise his issues. One minute he had been angry very with Barry the next he was helping him stop a threat to Central City. After the metahuman had been contained, the two men disappeared to what Felicity called their 'Bro Cave' to sort out or fight out their differences. Iris was a bit concerned. Oliver had a history of shooting her boyfriend with arrows but Felicity waved away her concern. The IT hacker was positive they would be ok.

Iris was very relieved when Barry and Oliver walked through the door both in one piece. The tension between them was gone and there was actually a smile tugging at Oliver's face. Felicity had been right. Iris had to tamp down the slight jealousy she felt towards the blonde. Felicity had been there for the start of the friendship between Barry and Oliver, it was only fair that she understood the dynamic a bit better than Iris did. It was while they were waiting for the boys to return that she heard all about Susan Williams, a name she knew well. Alarm bells rang in her head because Susan was famous for stabbing people in their back.

From everything Barry told her about Oliver she knew she had to time her approach right. She needed to get him when he was relaxed and at least a bit open to what she had to say. Barry eventually got caught up in some geek thing that was going on between Cisco, Felicity and Caitlin which left Oliver gazing at Felicity with heart eyes. She chose that moment to approach him.

"Hey, Oliver can I talk to you for a sec?" she asked chucking her thumb towards the open doorway to hint that she wanted to talk to him in private. She watched him shift uncomfortably while he sent a pleading look towards Felicity for help. She knew in the past when she had been fangirling him, Felicity had acted as an intermediary for him so he didn't have to directly interact with her. When no apparent help was forthcoming, he looked at her.

"Iris," he said in a tone that confirmed for Iris that he thought she was hitting on him.

"Get your head out of your ass Queen. This is a serious conversation and you know I'm with Barry. I will **never** hurt him like that," Iris replied offended.

He seemed a bit stunned at the venom in her voice but Iris didn't care. She stood there and glared at him until he conceded. She took him down to the empty speed lab so they could talk in private. He wouldn't want Felicity around for this discussion.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" he asked standing at the entrance to the room. His eyes swept every inch of the room, lingering a bit on the shadows in each corner. Barry told her that Oliver taught him to do something similar when he arrived at a scene.

"You know I'm a journalist right?" she asked jumping right into what she wanted to talk about.

"Yes," he answered hesitantly.

"Good then let me tell you a bit about my chosen profession. I pride myself in responsible journalism. I do realise that I'm reporting on the Flash while I date him but I make every effort to report the facts only. I was reporting on the Flash way before I even knew it was Barry. It made sense for me to continue that," she stated. "Of course I don't only report on the Flash. I have other stories that I work on. I have sources that I develop. When someone comes to me to discuss a story I listen to them.I consider that an off the record conversation because it's not an interview that I'm conducting for a story.I don't take what they confided in me and broadcast it on the local news. It would be ethically wrong for me to betray someone like that. Plus there is also the fact that they could be setting you up so everything should be fact checked," she told him.

"You're talking about Susan," Oliver says tensely.

Iris smiles. Let it not be said that Oliver Queen is stupid, "Yes I am. I heard about what she did to Thea. You only do that when you're seeking to destroy someone," Iris explained. "Your relationship with her is not a good idea if you're one her targets."

"I don't think that is any of your business," Oliver replies bluntly crossing his hands in front of his broad chest. She ignores the way his biceps bulge or the way the material has to stretch across his chest. She chooses to focus on the purpose of their private conversation and not let her mind get distracted in lust.

"You dating Susan isn't my business but her potential impact on Team Arrow is," she fired back at him.

"I have no intention of telling her about Team Arrow," Oliver replied quickly.

"And that right there is exactly the reason why you shouldn't be with her," Iris pointed out. "Oliver Queen should be dating someone he can trust. Not someone he should be afraid will ruin everything he has tried so hard to build. Even from a professional stand point, you shouldn't be dating the reporter that reports on everything you do, especially since she's so fond of putting everything in a negative light."

"Susan has to do her job and I don't discourage her from doing it," Oliver said defending his girlfriend.

"So when she finds out you are the Green Arrow and believe me she will if you're having a relationship with her, and she publishes it on the front page, it won't matter because she was just doing her job. When Felicity gets sent to jail because of you since she is the first person they are going to connect to the Green Arrow, it's ok because your girlfriend was doing her job," Iris practically yells. She noted the way he flinched when she mentioned Felicity going to jail because of him and she could see that that part of her argument got through to him. "Oliver there is a difference between doing your job and doing it the right way and as a fellow journalist, I can tell you Susan just gets the job done regardless of how many people she stabs in the back. It's your life, it's your choice but I would be very wary of how you continue from here."

She left him at the doorway to think over what she said. Tech support was still gushing over some gadget thing so Iris grabbed her coat and headed to the office. She decided to reach out to a few of her media contacts in Star City and ask if they had any idea what Susan Williams was working on.

* * *

Later that evening she and Barry were cuddling on the couch. Ever since he came back from the future he made sure that they spent some quality time together every night.

"So I noticed you disappeared with Oliver for a while," Barry said conversationally but Iris was able to detect a bit of uncertainty in his voice.

"Yes," Iris said sitting up and slapping him on his arm, "It wasn't like that. I needed to warn him about his girlfriend."

"Iris," Barry said in a disappointed tone, "You promised to stay out of that."

"I did no such thing. I promised to stay out of Oliver Queen's relationship with Felicity Smoak," Iris replied smugly.

"And talking to him about his current girlfriend wasn't meant to get him back together with Felicity?" Barry prodded.

"Absolutely not!" Iris said offended. "I keep my promises Barry. You know that. What I did was for Team Arrow's Susan Williams is planning I can guarantee you it's going to be bad for Team Arrow. And what's bad for Team Arrow is bad for us."

"I thought we were all about giving people second chances. Susan might not have an alternate agenda. Oliver appears to really like her. He can't be that wrong about her, " Barry said defending his friend.

"Please, a leopard cannot change its spots. Susan has had multiple chances over the years and blew each one. She left Coast City because her editor was about to fire her because the target of one her articles committed suicide. Oliver needs to know exactly who he's dating. Of course, getting him away from Susan would be so much easier if Felicity got her head out of her ass and fixed things with Oliver. But no, she has to be the most stubborn person in the world!" she said collapsing back into Barry's embrace.

"Iris as much as we care for them, we can't fix their relationship for them," Barry told her wrapping his arms around her again.

"That wasn't what I was doing," Iris insisted burying her face in the crook of his neck. She sighed contently.

"Really so you had nothing to do with that little chat Caitlin had with Felicity about letting childhood insecurities rule your current life?" Barry asked suspiciously.

"Oh Caitlin did that. Go Caitlin!" Iris said proudly.

Barry shook his head, "Let's just concentrate on us. I asked Felicity to write a programme to identify Savitar as soon as he returns to Central City. The cameras and the satellites will be searching for him. When he comes back we'll be ready."

Iris sat up again and took Barry's face in her hands, "Barry, I love you and I'm going to fight tooth and nail to remain at your side. I'm not going to let what you saw in the future hang over our relationship. I intend to enjoy every single moment I have with you," she said leaning forward and kissing him.

"Does this moment lead to the bedroom," he asked cheekily when she pulled away.

"If you play your cards right, it just might," she said with a sexy smile.

* * *

 **An:** Happy New Year everyone! **  
**

I'm hoping to get the next chapter of _Lessons Learnt_ out this week and then on Jan 10th start posting _The Wedding Challenge_.


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